All Things Visual: The University of Chicago Visual Resources Center

This week the color photograph celebrates its 150th birthday. On May 17, 1861, Scottish physicist and mathematician James Clerk Maxwell and photographer Thomas Sutton (inventor of the SLR camera) shot a photograph of a colored ribbon using red, green, and blue filters.

Via BBC News.

The last roll of Kodachrome slide film ever manufactured has been developed and will be the subject of an upcoming National Geographic documentary. The roll was given to photographer Steve McCurry, who captured the iconic Kodachrome image “The Afghan Girl” for National Geographic in 1984 (pictured above). The content of the final roll is undisclosed, though it was revealed that the first and last images were taken in New York and the images in between, in India. Listen to NPR’s story on Steve McCurry and the retirement of Kodachrome on All Things Considered.

The Graphics Atlas from the Image Permanence Institute at the Rochester Institute of Technology allows for dynamic exploration of printing processes, from pre-photographic to digital. Visitors can browse techniques visually, by name, or on a timeline. Detailed comparisons of different techniques help viewers learn to visually distinguish one printing process from another.